A return to the familiar

YOU can be forgiven if you slept through the May elections. There were hardly any surprises there, which in itself is rather disturbing, considering that may mean we now take violence as part and parcel of the process of selecting our leaders and legislators.

In a post-mortem on the polls that is the closing piece for i Report series on the May 2007 elections, Manuel L. Quezon III argues that the results show a return to “tried-and-tested themes in our political history.” As expected, the administration maintained its grip on the House of Representatives. But the results of the senatorial race, which is often considered as a referendum on the sitting administration, clearly show that the public is not pleased with the Palace.

Quezon highlights what he calls “signals” sent out loud and clear by the election results: “President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo lacks a national following; her machinery could not counteract the national tide; the public expressed itself firmly in favor of checks-and-balances between the executive and the legislative and between the two chambers of the legislature; the military itself, which resisted the call to decide matters in February 2006, also revolted against its commanders and voted as it pleased.”

Quezon spells all these out and more at pcij.org.